'waiting' on Serious Eats

Have other serious eaters noticed that Waiter Rant blogger turned no-longer-anonymous author Steve Dublanica's book has become a New York Times Best Seller? Hell, they're even going to publish a Chinese version of the book. I've been reading it all week, and it's funny, revealing, and properly scathing, just like the blog. Thanks to the good folks at Ecco, we've got five copies of this bad boy to give away this weekend. Here's what you have to do to win. Some of you may recall that yesterday I asked you for your worst waiter tale of woe. Today we're going to throw you a change-up. To win a copy of the book tell us about the best waiter experience you've... More

Retired Washington Post restaurant critic Phyllis Richman lets loose with her own waiter rant. I've eaten with Phyllis, and she's smart, funny, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. Her pet peeves: Restaurant staffers who snatch plates at a table before everyone is doneDisappearing waiters who stop paying attention to their station, even whey Phyllis wants to pay the checkShow-off waiters who insist on asking how everything is What else do waiters do that drive serious eaters crazy?... More

I blog by day and wait tables by night. I'm excited to bring you Served, dispatches from the front of the house. Enjoy! OK. I don't have the best job in the world. I'm not deluded enough to think that waiting tables has anything to do with saving lives or sticking it to the man or changing the world. I'm also not deluded enough to think that every gig waiting tables is as pleasant as mine. That is not to say, either, that my job is painless. (Is any job painless?) You won't hear me singing its praises at 4 a.m., when I am so tired it feels like corkscrews are burrowing into my temples and my blowing out all... More